Leighton Guzmán, Bernardo (1909–1995)

Bernardo Leighton Guzmán, a Chilean politician, was born on August 16, 1909. He served as minister of the interior during the first half of Christian Democrat Eduardo Frei's presidency in the mid-1960s. Along with Frei, Radomiro Tomic, and Rafael Agustín Gumucio, he was among the many young, middle-class Chilean Catholics attracted to the liberal currents of Catholic social thought that emerged during the 1920s and 1930s. After several years of burrowing from within the country's traditional Conservative Party, this group left the party in 1938 to establish the Falange Nacional, which in 1957 became the Christian Democratic Party (PDC).

Known affectionately as Hermano Bernardo (Brother Bernard), Leighton was one of the most congenial and widely respected of the Christian Democrats. He served in the cabinets of Liberal (Arturo Alessandri) and Radical (Gabriel González Videla) governments, and throughout his career maintained cordial relationships with virtually all political forces, particularly those of the Left. Although one of the most trusted confidants of the strongly anticommunist Frei, he was among the minority of Christian Democrats who condemned the 1973 military coup and publicly criticized those who encouraged and supported it. He and his wife were shot and left for dead by unknown assailants in Rome in 1978. Shortly thereafter the Chilean government permitted Leighton and his wife to return to Chile. He eventually recovered but remained partially paralyzed until his death on January 26, 1995.

See alsoChile, Political Parties: Christian Democratic Party (PDC) .

BIBLIOGRAPHY

Michael Fleet, The Rise and Fall of Chilean Christian Democracy (1985).

Additional Bibliography

Boye, Otto. Hermano Bernardo: 50 años de vida política vistos por Bernardo Leighton. Santiago: Editorial Aconcagua, 1986.

Mayorga Marcos, Patricia. El cóndor negro: El atentado a Bernardo Leighton. Santiago: El Mercurio, Aguilar, 2003.

                                              Michael Fleet